Highlighting the number of Irish writers who fled our inhospitable shores might not seem like a good way to promote Irish business but when you learn that they all used ferries to make their getaway, then Dublin Port Company's new campaign makes sense.
The sea travel campaign, which began yesterday, highlights the fact that Samuel Beckett, Brendan Behan, James Joyce, Seán O'Casey, GB Shaw, Oscar Wilde and WB Yeats all used ferries to leave the country. Some, including Joyce, never returned from exile but others like Behan took the return ferry journey.
The campaign will run over the coming months on billboards, bus shelters and in newspapers. Portraits of the artists by Dubliner Seán Lennon will accompany the advertisements.
Enda Connellan, chief executive of Dublin Port Company said ports often reminded people of a time when this country was not rich or welcoming and people were forced to emigrate.
"Thankfully we no long suffer this fate today. This is a nation of shining promise, of abundant opportunity. We only leave because we want to, not because we have to," he said.
Some 17 ferry sailings leave Dublin Port every day. Approximately 1.2 million passengers are taken to places such as Holyhead, Liverpool and the Isle of Man every year.
Unveiling the campaign, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Paddy Bourke, said ferry travel was particularly valuable to the tourism industry as ferry passengers spent more and travelled further into the country than their airline counterparts.
More than 50 per cent of tourists who travelled here by car spent more than six nights here, compared with 38 per cent of non-car users, he said. It was also estimated that car-users spent 10 per cent more per person than non-car users.
The mayor also pointed out that the cruise liner business was now bringing between €30 to €50 million in tourism spend to the local economy.
